Irelands Losing Run Now at 5 Games
Since opening the season with two victories, Ireland have now lost 5 games in a row.
The heavy defeat to Slovakia was followed by a 126-110 defeat to Luxembourg. Ultimately a poor second quarter contributed majorly to the defeat as Ireland struggled to overturn a 10 point half time deficit. Thomas Stanton lead the scoring for Ireland with 21, with Malcom Bradley and Micheal Castle chipping in with 18 each. Trevor Haverty managed a double-double with a team high 11 rebounds and scoring 10 points. Luxembourg put more effort into the game, so it wasn’t the worst performance from the boys in green.
Next up was Poland and Ireland suffered a second heavy defeat of the season, losing by 45 points. Ireland struggled to score throughout in this game. Thomas Stanton managed to score 16 points, but only Trevor Havery and Malcom Bradley were the only other Irish players to reach double figures in points with 12 each. Both Haverty and Bradley managed to put in a double-double for the men from the emerald isle, as they both clocked up a team high 10 rebounds,
Ireland then took on reigning European champions Bosnia and Herzegovnia. Again a heavy defeat ensued as Ireland struggled to score whilst coming out on the end of a 47 point loss (109 – 62). Andrew Paton lead the team in scoring with 21 points, while Damien O’Hagan managed 12 and Thomas Stanton was the only other player to reach double figures with 10 points. Ireland did have an edge on the boards, with Trevor Haverty grabbing 18 rebounds, while Paton managed 10 to complete a double-double in a strong individual performance.
In the last game Ireland went head to head with Iceland, and after a strong start to overtime, Ireland eventually fell to the Icelandic challenge, losing 112-100. Ireland took a good lead in the second quarter, but a poor third quarter left them 11 points down going into the final quarter. The men in green managed to fightback and force overtime, but despite taking a 5 point lead in OT, the Irish challenge petered out with Iceland battling top the win. Thomas Stanton once again lead the way in scoring coming up with 26 points, with Damian O’Hagan also managing to get to the 20 point milestone. Malcom Bradley had a massive 20 boards with 10 points to complete a double-double, while O’Hagan also managed to grab 10 boards to to complete one of his own. This was a tough loss, considering Ireland had slightly better tactics and enthusiasm going into this one.
Next up is a matchup against a strong team from Turkey, who has struggled so far this season.
Debuts for Developmental Players
Against Iceland, 3 developmental players managed to make the squad. Joe Estlin made the bench but did not see any game time but may get minutes soon, while Rick Moynihan and Clifford Keane both picked up their first minutes for the team. Moynihan managed 7 points 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal in 13 minutes, while Keane didn’t score but contributed 3 assists and an offensive rebound in his 12 minutes. Congrats to the managers of these players on getting them to the point that they can contribute for our NT.
Mid Term Report
After the Turkey game I will be messaging all Irish managers with a mid term report, so all managers are aware of the factors contributing to current performance levels of the NT and its players, and the issues that our NT is currently facing.
Last edited by Rockets at 27/09/2026 19:05:02